The Grail's Dark Knight is a crossover fanfic between Batman and Fate/Zero written by The-Honored-One.
The Fourth Holy Grail War.
In most timelines, the japanese city, Fuyuki, a secret magical tournament is held, where seven mages known as "Masters" summon "Servants", reincarnations of legendary heroes from all across time, to fight in a deadly battle royale where the winner obtains the Holy Grail, an omnipotent wish granter... bringing nothing but ruin.
In this timeline, unbeknownst to the mages participating in the ritual, someone is about to alter the course of their destiny.
It can be read on SpaceBattles
, Fanfiction.Net and Archive of Our Own. Extra content, like side-stories and media, are only found on SpaceBattles.
The Grail's Dark Knight contains examples of:
- Adapted Out: Ryuunosuke, who was one of the Masters in canon, is sent to jail when Batman discovers his criminal activity and takes his place in the Holy Grail War.
- Adaptation Origin Connection: Due to the The DCU and Nasuverse being merged, the author has stated certain things will be connected. Such as:
- The Source Wall and Root are one and the same.
- The Pruning Phenomenon is ambiguously connected to Crisis Events.
- One of the Zatara family relics, the Gnosis Sphere, is a remnant of a Greek Machine God.
- One of the prime reasons Poison Ivy is adamant of unleashing the Green is due to partially awakening her Origin (Flora) unintentionally during the accident that made her Poison Ivy. Not helped further that this connects her to the Green, which by extension is connected to Gaia, which has a complicated relationship with humanity.
- Deacon Joseph Blackfire is a Dead Apostle in the story.
- Here, Tokiomi bought the snakeskin that would serve as a catalyst for Gilgamesh from Vandal Savage himself, who has many items from his long-lived life.
- Adaptational Wimp: In canon, Oracle (Barbara) is a brilliant hacker to the point where she once counter-hacked Brainiac of all people. Here, she is defeated by Da Vinci who hacks into the Bat Computer. Though justified as Barbara only recently became Oracle and did give Da Vinci, a genius with faster reactions speed, some trouble.
- Advanced Ancient Acropolis: Like both series, Atlantis does exist and was advanced. But due to Sefar's assault, it sunk and after many years, most of the advanced technology Atlantis had either been put in storage, wasted away, was lost to time or stolen.
- Always Someone Better: Exemples include:
- While Kiritsugu is no slouch in preparing, Bruce is the same but much better. Having a company that supplies him a fortune to spend on, custom-made gear, and has trained since childhood to be at peak-human strength.
- While Da Vinci is a powerful magus and a genius in figuring out spells, she's unable to unlock a box Zatanna sent to Bruce due to Zatanna, who comes from a long lineage and is a powerful magus in her own right, using protective spells that comes from the Age of Gods.
- Ambiguously Related: The Wayne Family may or may not be descendants of Sir Gawain.
- Awesome by Analysis: Both Bruce and his Servant, Da Vinci, are both this.
- Big Brother Is Watching: A heroic variant. With the help of Da Vinci, Bruce sets up a type of 'mirror' surveillance system to observe Fuyuki both for the war and for criminal activity.
- Blue Blood: Zatanna's family line dates back all the way to the Age of Gods. Her family home having numerous valuable artifacts which includes a functioning remnant of one of the Greek Machine Gods.
- Call-Back: A mentioned character, Jiro Kuwata, is the manga artist/author of one of the first Batman Manga.
- Casting a Shadow: For a trap set up on the docks, Batman placed a Bounded Field that envelops the entire area into utter darkness that only he can see through. This sensory deprivation gives Batman an advantage. Especially when dealing with Kiritsugu.
- Composite Character: In the story, Morgan Le Fey takes aspects from both her Nasuverse and DC Animated Universe versions. Having a similar background to her Nasu-counterpart before diverging where she (the Le Fey aspect) survives and becomes Morgaine le Fey and resumes her own plans in modern-day.
- Costume Evolution: As Da Vinci and Batman confirms, his first suit wasn't anything too special in the beginning. As time past, while the original motif remained the same, the costume itself underwent different iterations for many reasons in general.
- Curb Stomp Cushion: Batman versus Kiritsugu ends with the dark knight very much beating the tar out of the latter. Helped that Kiritsugu is blinded, caught off-guard, and had no help. The only reason it wans't an outright curb-stomp is because Kiritsugu actually feinted defeat, had Avalon healing him, then used his magecraft to slow his heartbeat and strike when Batman assumed he was knocked out... Not that it helps as Batman just beats his ass further, having expected this possibility.
- Crazy-Prepared: Both Bruce and Kiritsugu are this by virtue of their nature and need to ensure nothing goes wrong.
- Dawn of an Era: It's heavily suggested that as mageraft is dying, meta-humans are slowly appearing, but aren't well-known at the moment beyond a few.
- Didn't Think This Through: While Da Vinci means well, and only wants to help Bruce during the war, how she does it very almost breaches the fragile trust Bruce barely has with her. Primarily, she hacks into his very sensitive Bat Computer, copies all the information he has on it, and overlooks his files, technology, and what he's done during his career. Thankfully, Bruce reigns in using a Command Seal when he discovers this with Da Vinci acknowledging she might have overdone it.
- Does Not Like Magic: Upon entering the Fuyuki Holy Grail War, Bruce is less than pleased as while he has some contingencies for it, he'd rather not deal with magecraft in general.
- Dreaming of Things to Come: Zatanna wakes up when dreaming of Bruce encountering what is heavily implied to be Angra Mainyu, All the World's Evils. Though she is uncertain of the validity due to having recently faced Pretali who used illusions against her.
- Dramatic Irony: Bruce in general tries to avoid magecraft due to its nature. He ends up in the Holy grail War and summons Servant Caster, Da Vinci.
- Experienced Protagonist: By the time he enters the Holy Grail War, Bruce already has over nine years of crime-fighting skills and has dealt with his fair share of criminals, both ordinary and supernatural.
- Exploited Immunity: When Batman faces Kiritsugu and realizes Gilgamesh will attack them, he slams Kiritsugu with a kick compared to breaking an oak tree to save him. Mainly because he Knows Kiritsugu will survive thanks to his healing factor. Not that it makes it any less painful. Even before that, Batman used more devastating moves simply because of Kiritsugu's healing factor.
- Familiar: Upon participating in the Holy Grail War, Bruce summons Caster, Da Vinci.
- For Science!: Da Vinci enjoys technology, and for the most part loves innovation be it science or architect. As such, she tries to help Bruce by upgrading his gear using the magecraft knowledge she has. Though she does hack into his files and makes these upgrades to do this without asking, something she reflects on as she got too caught up in her desire to improve Bruce's current technology.
- Fusion Fic: The fanfic is a fusion of the Zero/Stay Night continuity of Fate with a custom continuity of DC.
- Gender Bender: To Bruce's surprise, Da Vinci is a woman. Not knowing that Da Vinci purposely did that onto herself.
- Generational Magic Decline: A side-story reveals that Zatanna's family line had entered this for some time, similar to the Matous. It was only when her father, Giovanni, was born that this reversed.
- Good Is Not Soft: Batman may be a hero who doesn't kill, but he also has no problem breaking crooks' bones and hospitalizing them.
- Gravity Screw: With some planning, Da Vinci up the gravity at the docks which makes the Servants struggle to even stand - with the exception of Gilgamesh. Due to the nature of the spell, it increases the world's natural gravity instead of affecting the Servants themselves. Meaning any Magic Resistance they have doesn't help them. Not that it slows them down entirely.
- Great Offscreen War: During the eve of WW2, the Third Holy Grail War began with not just the usual Masters, but also Masters backed by the Imperial Japanese Army and the Nazis, with Giovanni sent there as an agent of the American Government. Needless to say, collateral damage and casualties occurred with such people around in their attempts to gain the Holy Grail to wish for their respective countries victory in the war.
- It's Personal: Bruce holds a grudge against Kiritsugu for causing a tragedy known as the "Wayne Plaza Bombing" and escaping justice. Upon discovering his location in Fuyuki, Bruce heads out to apprehend him.
- Inept Mage: During his training, it's suggested that in his attempt to control his "Chi", Bruce awakened his latent magic circuits by accident. This allows him to unwittingly make a contract with Caster. Though beyond this, Bruce has no formal training in magecraft nor has any desire to learn such things.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Bruce is a genuine good man with strong morals and strives for justice. However, due to his trauma and Workaholic nature, he has difficulty expressing his emotions and is rather stubborn, causing rifts in his adopted sons such as Dick and Tim.
- Logical Weakness: For as much as Servants are scientifically defying, especially with their immense powers, it's also made clear they can't outright break the laws of science. As certain attributes from science can affect them if used right. Examples being:
- That when all source of light is gone due to the bounded field spell, the Servants must rely on other factors and methods to 'see' in the dark.
- Despite being immensely powerful, gravity still affects them like a normal person. So when Da Vinci increases the world's natural gravity, thus bypassing Magic Resistance, the Servants can still move but struggle a bit.
- For as much as Servants are immune to modern weaponry, it's suggested and implied certain weapons with enough energy or power can affect them or outright kill them despite lacking magical influences. Bruce and Da Vinci utilize a satellite beam through certain methods which all but states could kill a Servant from the sheer energy it produces. Unfortunately their target was Gilgamesh - who has many defensive Noble Phantasms that allows him to survive. Though he does gain some burns due to the massive non-magical heat affecting his skin.
- Magic Must Defeat Magic: Unfortunately for Bruce, despite being a Badass Normal, against a Servant he is considerably powerless due to their immunities towards modern weaponry and overpowering strength against humans in general.
- Magic Versus Science: A small sub-plot is how science could face off against magic, IE, magecraft and Servants. Needless to say the Servants are very much immune to overpowering against scientific gear in general. With magecraft having much variety that not even Batman's preparations can fully counter them. On the other hand, through his wealth Batman utilizes technology to gain himself an advantage in the war where Kiritsugu is known to kill many magus with mundane but deadly weapons that aren't magical in nature.
- Magitek: Despite being a great scientist, Da Vinci is also a magus. As such, when she improves Bruce's technology and suits, she uses her magecraft knowledge to upgrade them into being more efficient that impresses even Bruce.
- Minor Crime Reveals Major Plot: Bruce only ended up in the Grail War because he was tracking down Kiritsugu for all the mundane terrorist acts the latter committed. Bruce only sticks around in the War because he is sure Kiritsugu is involved somehow, given that there is nothing else special about Fuyuki that would warrant the attention of a known terrorist.
- Mythology Gag: A few hints to certain lore on both series is noticed.
- When hacking into the Bat Computer, Da Vinci ponders the idea of using magic circuits to have the conscious interact with cyber space is a nod towards Fate/EXTRA, which does just that.
- When upgrading one of Batman's suits, Da Vinci gives him the mystic codes, Reinforcement, Gandr, and Emergency Evasion. Mystic Codes that are very similar to the ones the Protagonist in Fate/Grand Order uses.
- Upon entering Ryuudou Temple, Da Vinci notes to Bruce there's enough magical energy in the leylines to summon and support another Servant. Which happens in Fate/stay night with Assassin.
- After asking how Da Vinci can stay materialized when the Grail War is done, Da Vinci claims Bruce would need seven Command Seals to keep her around physically. Similar to Perseus in Fate/Prototype whose Master Isemi used all of his (three) Command Seals to let Perseus stay active.
- Batman's new suit is very much from the Arkham games.
- Masquerade: Magecraft, as per usual, is hidden by the normal world.
- Millionaire Playboy: Bruce is naturally this, inheriting the fortune of the Wayne Family and having his own company. It's also this status that gets Kayneth and Tokiomi's attention. Both men having their own problem with him.
- Mundane Object Amazement: While Da Vinci is informed of the general knowledge on modern technology from the Throne, she is vastly impressed by Bruce's gear and technology. Fascinated by how much technology has improved since her time and enjoys analyzing the technology when she can.
- Noodle Incident: Bruce, as Batman, once faced a Dead Apostle "The Monk", "Deacon" Blackfire.
- Nothing Is the Same Anymore: With the Age of Man in effect, the Gods in the Reverse Side are unable to influence the world while magecraft itself slowly dwindles. After the events of WW2, the texture of man has been changing to an unknown extent.
- Off the Rails: Bruce's presence in the Holy Grail War at first causes very little changes at the start. However, his buying of the Hyatt Hotel, framing Kiritsugu, alongside utilizing a trap that captured six of the seven Heroic Spirits at the docks starts different changes in the timeline.
- Power-Up: A minor one. To help Bruce out, Zatanna not only sends him information of the last war her father went into, but also enhances his Command Seals and adds pre-installed spells for him to use alongside good-luck charms.
- Pretender Diss: Before being caught, Ryuunosuke believes himself a seeker of the truth when killing people. Bruce, who has seen and faced genuine psychopaths, sees Ryuunosuke's murders, while horrible, ultimately mundane and dull.
- Retired Monster: Averted. In a side-story, while Morgaine Le Fey is calmer after many years of wandering and raising her new child, Mordred, she still wants to bring Altria to her doom.
- Rude Hero, Nice Sidekick: Batman is a grumpy intimidating person and Da Vinci, while not a traditional sidekick, is a helpful supporter for Bruce.
- Saved by Canon: The prologue ultimately reveals Bruce survives the Holy Grail War. It's just a question of how.
- Science Wizard: Da Vinci is not only a technological genius but knows magecraft to support Bruce in the Holy Grail War.
- Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: To prepare for the Holy Grail War, Bruce sets out to make a base of operations. He has Alfred ready to spend his vast fortune in buying the Hyatt Hotel's parent company with no problem.
- Spared by the Adaptation: A side-story reveals that unlike in the Nasuverse, Atlantis managed to survive its destruction from Sefar's hands. Vandal Savage, who had witnessed the events, claims that before the city sunk, the few desperate survivors found Poseidon's Klironomia and modified it so that they and their descendants would adapt and survive in the underwater seas.
- Strong and Skilled: Having trained himself since his youth, Bruce is above peak human strength in mind and body. Many criminals acknowledging he has the fighting skills and brain to defeat many criminals without breaking a sweat.
- Talented, but Trained: While Da Vinci may be a great genius in both science and magecraft, she works very hard to ensure she doesn't fall behind as science progresses.
- Tempting Fate: When hunting for Kiritsugu, Bruce tells Alfred he'll be back in a few days. Cue Bruce unintentionally entering the Holy Grail War.
- The Cracker: To support Bruce, Da Vinci shows her hacking skills by using it on the Bat Computer to set up its systems in Fuyuki. Defeating Oracle who attempts to stop her.
- The Cameo: Gray from Case Files makes a non-speaking appearance in a side-story.
- Underestimating Badassery: Zigzagged. In Gotham, while the older and more experienced crooks rightfully fear Batman, those new to Gotham believe Batman as a "silly man in a costume". Most end up in the hospital and jailed soon after.
- Played Straight with Nightwing, where most crooks think that Nightwing is a baby-version of Batman. Like Bruce, Nightwing deals with the crooks easily enough.
- Well-Trained, but Inexperienced: As one of humanities most brilliant minds of her time, Da Vinci easily catches onto how new technology works both through the knowledge provided by the Grail and her own natural genius. Having managed to even hack into the Bat Computer successfully despite the fact no computers ever existed in her time. However, despite her successful hacking, Oracle claims to Batman she made a rookie mistake and found the source of Da Vinci's signal rather easily. She also didn't account that Bruce could use the pre-installed backdoors he left in the copied information she took to access them despite improving the cyber-defenses.
- You Never Asked: When Bruce discovers Zatanna knew about the Holy Grail War, whose father participated in the Third when he was younger, he asks why she never told him. Her response is that she expected to tell him about it later.
